Super Mario Bros. 2
For the Japanese game of the same name, see Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. Super Mario Bros. 2 (Japanese name: Super Mario USA) is the second (fourth in Japan) game in the Super Mario Bros. series. It originally was for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but was subsequently ported to many other systems. This game has been criticized for being too much a departure from its predecessor, Super Mario Bros.. Development The original Super Mario Bros. 2 was released in Japan, but Nintendo apparently decided it was too challenging for UK/US players, so it was not released in the UK or US. However, Nintendo was already working on Super Mario Bros. 3 and they had not released a SMB 2 in the UK or US yet. They needed to make a game which was quick to make, so they took Doki Doki Panic, replaced all the playable characters with Mario characters and called it Super Mario Bros. 2. Many characters and abilities from Super Mario Bros. 2 later reappeared in the Super Mario series. Luigi's ability to Jump higher and stay in the air longer than Mario comes from this game, as well as Peach's occasional ability to hover in midair and pull vegetables from the ground (Super Smash Bros. Melee). Shy Guys, Snifits, Bob-ombs, Pokeys, and Birdo were also introduced. Wart, the main villain, never reappeared in a video game, but has made an appearance in the Nintendo Comics System and has been mentioned in later games. Although he did appear in Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening under his Japanese name, "Mamu". Story n the game, Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Toad travel through the world of Subcon, the world of dreams, which is ruled by the giant frog Wart. They enter Subcon through a cave they find while on a picnic trip. They were called by the Subcons, who were captured by Wart. Wart had captured the Dream Machine, which controls all dreams. On the adventure, our heroes fight Wart's army, the 8 bits, and his generals, Birdo, Mouser, Clawgrip, Fry Guy, and Tryclyde. After they reach Wart's Castle, one battles Wart with vegetables, which are flung from the Dream Machine, on the floor near Wart's platform, forcing them into his mouth to defeat him. The character then advances to the next room where they free the Subcon fairies. The Subcon fairies then fly around the player and then start carrying the knocked out body of Wart. Toad, the princess, Mario and Luigi wave at the player. Suddenly, Mario briefly wakes up before resuming peaceful sleep. It is presumed that the entire the game was just Mario's dream and the events did not really happen. Gameplay Because the game was a clone of Doki Doki Panic, it had little in common with the original Super Mario Bros. In order to defeat enemies, the player could throw Vegetables at them, or jump on them, grab them and throw them away. However, the elements of Doki Doki Panic had influence on Mario's abilities in later games. At the beginning of each level, the player could choose between the playable characters: Mario, Luigi, Toad and Princess Toadstool. When entering the next level or losing a life, he could select a different character again. A screenshot from the NES Version of SMB2. A screenshot from the NES Version of SMB2. At the end of most levels of the game, the player fought Birdo. The player had to jump on the eggs that Birdo spat, grab them and throw them back, hitting Birdo three times to gain a crystal which opened the hawkmouth gate at the end of the level. There were several colors of Birdos: pink, which only spat eggs; red, which spat eggs and fireballs; green, which only spat fireballs. For the green Birdos, there were mushroom blocks nearby for the player to use instead. There were seven worlds in this game. The first six had three levels apiece, and the seventh had two. At the end of each world, the player encountered one of Wart's generals. Mouser was waiting at the end of World 1, Tryclyde in World 2, Mouser again in World 3, Fryguy in World 4, Clawgrip in World 5, Tryclyde again in World 6, and Wart himself at the end of World 7. It should be noted in Super Mario Advance that Mouser did not appear in World 3; the player instead encountered Robirdo. Levels Characters *Mario *Luigi *Peach (Princess Toadstool) *Toad Enemies *Shy Guy* *Tweeter *Ninji* *Hoopster *Pidgit* *Beezo* *Phanto *Snifit* *Trouter *Spark* *Cobrat* *Panser* *Pokey* *Ostro *Porcupo* *Albatoss *Bob-omb* *Flurry *Autobomb *Returns in other Mario Games. Bosses *Birdo* *Mouser *Red Birdo* *Tryclyde *Fryguy *Mini Fryguy *Gray Birdo* *Clawgrip *Green Birdo* *Hawkmouth *Wart *Returns in other Mario games. Non-Playable *Subcon Remake Exclusive *Robirdo (Super Mario Advance version) *Yoshi (Super Mario Advance version) Innovations * It was the first Mario game to feature Luigi as being taller and slimmer than Mario due to the character models they had to work with. It was also the first game to feature Peach and Toad as playable characters, as well as the first to feature Peach as not being the damsel in distress. * It marked the return of the POW block from Mario Bros. * It introduced the jackpot feature, where three Mario-related symbols could be lined up for prizes. In this game, it resulted in a 1-Up. It was continued for Super Mario Bros. 3 where at the end of each stage a block could be hit and a random card would be acquired. Acquiring three of the same cards resulted in multiple 1-ups and a dramatic screen featuring a giant picture of the card. No matches or 2/3 simply resulted in a single 1-up. In Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, the cards were occasionally used to power up health points with all mushrooms, flower points with all flowers, star points with all starmen, and fill everything with all Shine Sprites. Differences from Doki Doki Panic Aside from the obvious graphical differences, the following gameplay aspects were changed: * Since SMB2 was released on a cartridge, it originally did not have a saved game system. The All Stars version * Only two "continues" were allowed in Super Mario Bros. * SMB allowed changing characters at the beginning of the level. The All stars version allowed changing characters when a life was lost. Category:Mario series